My mother taught me to make homemade bread as a child and I have been making it ever since, but a breadmaker certainly is easier. I've had two, a Magic Chef which stopped working after I accidentally left the pan soaking overnight (the mechanism that turns the paddle won't budge), and a Zojirushi, which I now use every week, and don't leave soaking in the sink. (I chose the Zojirushi because it had good reviews and because I have their rice steamer and love it.)
Features I like: Double paddles. This is absolutely the way to go if you want a horizontal loaf, otherwise some of the flour can get stuck in a corner and not get mixed up. You can solve this by scraping the sides during mixing, but having to do that sort of defeats the purpose of a breadmaker.
Another thing I like is the "Homemade" setting, which allows you to customize the cycle times. The default is for French Bread, which, incidentally, comes out very well. One caution, their recipe calls for 3 teaspoons of yeast, which caused it to overrise. I now use 2 teaspoons and get great results. Also, the "default" setting for Homemade/French Bread wasn't set correctly on mine at first, but the instruction manual listed the correct settings and it was easy to reprogram. Good instruction manual, by the way.
One other nice feature is the preheat cycle. The trickiest part with bread machines is getting the right amount of yeast for the machine's timed rise cycles. Cold liqueds slow down yeast action, warm ones speed it up. I've found that the preheat cycle helps give more uniform results. (Age and amount of yeast affects it too, but the breadmachine can't compensate for that.)
Most of the other features, like jam and cake settings, I never use.
Disappointments: The window gets steamed up during processing and opening the cover causes it to pause so you can't really watch what it is doing. Also, the delay timer only works with the "Basic" bread setting. I wanted to set it to have French bread ready when I came home, and couldn't.
The thing I use most: The "Dough" setting. I prefer to let the breadmaker mix everything up for me and do all the initial risings, and then throw it in a pan for the last rising and bake it myself. This way the paddles don't get baked into the bottom of the loaf, and I don't have to worry about over or under rising. Honestly, it is the yeast that causes most problems people have with breadmakers. Old yeast, or not enough, and your bread comes out like a brick. Too much and it either overrises and sticks to the top, as it did the first time I made French bread with 3 tsp. of yeast, or it caves in during baking and you have a U-shaped top. (If it rises but the top is flat, rather than rounded, it's not the yeast. You probably have too much liqued or too little flour adjust accordingly.)
I don't use mixes, so I can't comment on that, but I have an electric wheat grinder and often use fresh ground whole wheat (which they don't recommend), and this breadmachine handles it beautifully. I like being able to use all healthy ingredients, like whole wheat instead of white flour, and honey instead of refined sugar. In this case though it does need extra yeast, since the whole wheat flour is heavier.
I recommended this breadmaker to both my step-mother and my best friend, so I guess that's a pretty high recommendation. (My mother still does it by hand. Maybe someday I'll get her to try a machine.)
Let me save you the time of reading all prior reviews to this date, as I have gone through them all and can sum them up for you. In fact, I was one of the consumers who raved about this machine after receiving it last Christmas, giving it 5 stars...
Of course, I had only owned it for two months at the time. It IS a fantastic machine at first, producing perfect results every time. It does have some unbeatable features, but it seems that other companies are catching up and now incorporate the same ones. (Such as the horizontal loaf style, automatic preheat cycle, warming cycle, add ingredients cycle, various crust settings, viewing window, etc.) The problem is not with its features, but in lasting quality.
After making an average of a loaf per week for the last year, this machine DOES start to wear rapidly. Generally speaking, Amazon consumer reviews indicate that people begin experiencing trouble anywhere between 6 and 18 months of use. The problems are all the same: Rusting/chipping paddles, rusting/warping pan, and unevenly shaped loaves.
This didn't happen at first. The loaves never stuck, and the ingredients mixed well. The bread had the proper shape and baked evenly. The results were perfect and consistent every time... in the beginning. I assumed there were just a couple of lemons out there, since the majority of reviews were glowing. But if you take the time to go through all of them, you'll notice that most of the glowing reviews are from consumers who haven't had the machine very long. At that time, being so thrilled and impressed, I enthusiastically recommended it to everyone as well.
Now the bread won't release from the pan as easily as it once did. When it was new, it only took one or two shakes. Now it becomes a battle, whether you remove the bread immediately after the cycle is done or once it has warmed and cooled. Also, the paddles stick in the bread every single time, no matter what kind of bread you make. It's impossible not to tear the bread in order to remove them.
None of this is a major a problem, but add to that uneven browning and an unevenly shaped loaf... I have to admit I'm disappointed. It seems that one of my paddles must not be working properly, because one end of the loaf is considerably smaller than the other. If I don't catch it at the end of the kneading cycle and correct the shape before the rising/baking cycle, the result is a VERY misshapen loaf that is burned on one end.
I'm also noticing that it doesn't mix the ingredients as well as it once did, leaving raw flour on the bottom/sides of the loaf, and in different parts of the machine. Again: must be a paddle problem. Like several others' experience, my bread pan is starting to rust on the underside, too. To replace the bread pan plus two paddles will cost over $110, so why bother? If my bread pan starts to warp like others' have (which makes the paddles scrape the pan during kneading), I will try a different brand rather than replace its parts. If the Zo parts were less expensive, I might show a bit more loyalty.
Although I have no experience with other brands and am unaware if these are universal problems, it sounds like the Panasonic has been highly rated, even above the Breadman. I would check consumer reports next time to be certain, though.
I am giving the Zojirushi 3 1/2 to 4 stars now, but I'm afraid I'll end up rating it 3 stars or less if it continues to decline. It's still better than baking bread by hand in any case... Nothing beats how easy it is to simply throw the ingredients in a machine, turn it on, and have freshly baked bread in 3 1/2 hours. However, you may want to research another brand.
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After major research of available breadmakers, I chose the Zo a couple of years ago and have never been disappointed. It was my first breadmaker. My final choice was based on features, reviews, and support from both manufacturer and the breadmachine community (web forums, etc.).
In my mind the important features are the size and shape of the loaf, the ability of the machine to produce a properly kneaded loaf, the flexibility to create your own bread making process flow (knead, rise, bake, etc.), and the durability to make any kind of bread (white or whole multi grain). The Zo was the only one that combined all of these in one machine in a way that suited my needs.
The folks who have had problems with this machine either received a bad machine (and should return it) or can't follow directions. There is no margin for error when using a breadmachine. You must follow the recipe EXACTLY (unless you are at higher elevations).
If this is your first breadmachine I also highly recommend the books Bread Machine Magic and More Bread Machine Magic. These are well written books with a nice variety of recipes that always worked the first time for me. The machine comes with a good manual with a few recipes that are also good but is a little short on bread making theory (which is nice to have when things go wrong).
Is it perfect? Nearly, but my wish list includes more flexibility with some of the settings (sometimes there is no need for the preheat cycle) and more programs (create your own bradmaking process). The window leaves a lot to be desired as well, but that applies to almost all of the machines. Don't expect those little windows to work like they do in a regular oven!
At our house this machine gets used not only to make bread, but for bread dough for baking in the oven and fresh made pizza dough (one of life's important little treats).
All of our recipes are made from scratch, but in the beginning I also used mixes from King Arthur Flour---highly recommended! The premade mixes are great in the beginning of your breadmachine adventures as they eliminate one source of error (measuring ingredients).
All things considered, when the time comes, my next machine will be a Zo 20 as well.
Read Best Reviews of Zojirushi BBCC-V20 Home Bakery Traditional Breadmaker Here
I have been using a National bread machine for about 7 years making a loaf a week on the average. Last year I bought the Zojirushi to have another machine. What an improvement in bread quality! The twin blades make a huge difference. French bread is much less time. clean up is much easierC
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I've had my machine for a little over one year, my fourth one in an assortment of brands and price ranges during my 12 years of bread machine experiences. First time I tried to use the crust control in the whole weat setting, it didn't work. Okay, okay, I should have sent it back right then and there, but life got in the way and I "forgave" that little glitch. I also tried to overlook the paleness of the loaves. And when my husband complained that the darn loaf won't come out of the pan without prying it out with a plastic spatula and tearing the loaf apart, I blamed it on whatever, just so I wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of customer service and returns and such because I was not feeling well.
Then we noticed rust "growing" underneath the pan where the plate is attached, and I noticed oil leaks from the paddle clips. I called the nearest Zojirushi dealership in New York and asked about a replacement pan. The dealer told me I should wash that stuff off, he immerses his pan into water all the time. I tried that, but the problem merely got worse. Also, the flaking paddles and scorched sides of the pan were unwelcome signs of poor craftsmanship as far as I'm concerned since I had not seen this before, not even in less expensive brands.
A week ago suddenly the bottom bent up around one of the blades, which now scrapes down to the bare metal during kneading and makes a horrendous noise. The idea of eating metal flakes is not becoming, so I hopped online to get a replacement pan and new paddles. The pan costs $88.95, each paddle $12.95, for a lovely total of $114.85 plus shipping.
That's when I logged on to Amazon.com, to see what other owners of this machine had to say. And I've decided to look for another brand instead of investing any more money into this disappointing machine.
I've owned a Zojirushi electronic rice cooker for 13 years.That machine still performs outstanding, which was my main reason for choosing Zojirushi's breadmaker. I thought I was getting the same high quality. What a let-down! And I thank all you reviewers who shared their problems with this brand!
This is the 2nd time I've been invited to write a review of this purchase ... long story, but I can sum it up ( again ) in 4 words: GREAT ITEM, HORRIBLE SELLER.
